Child Protection India Project #19906

Safe care and adoption for Indian Babies

by Snehalaya 'Home of Love'

Safe care and adoption for Indian Babies

Summary

It is heartbreaking to even contemplate that a newborn baby could be abandoned into life threatening danger by being left by the side of the road or in a garbage bin. Sadly, our team finds these babies all too often, some badly injured, malnourished or suffering with mental and other health issues, including disabilities and HIV/AIDS. Our doors are open to all without discrimination to deliver the highest levels of support and medical care and find loving families for every unwanted child.

$50,000
total goal

$5,168
remaining

270
donors

4
monthly donors

9
fundraisers

7
years

Challenge

29.6 million children are orphaned & abandoned each year in India. Healthy babies are illegally adopted while girls & babies with disabilities are abandoned or killed. With 88 rapes in India every day pregnant girls face stigmas & unsupported by their families, risk illegal abortions or give birth in secret. COVID is causing more rapes & unwanted pregnancies & we are already 20% over capacity. With hospitals closed, home deliveries are resulting in more deformities & serious health conditions.

Solution

We provide shelter, pre & post-natal care, counseling, vocational, educational & legal support allowing women & girls to give birth safely & a second chance in life. Many babies are voluntarily left with us, including orphans or those with special needs & our teams & volunteers bring us abandoned babies. Those who survive are very fragile or premature, requiring intensive care. Outreach work promotes our center & maternal healthcare & helps identify pregnant girls or women in need.

Long-Term Impact

Since 2006, our government-approved adoption center has found families for 1,000 babies, including the first HIV+ adopted baby in India. Our emergency medics & nurses keep our infants alive & safe &, despite 4-6 infants per month requiring hospitalization, we have a survival rate of 98%. Around 700 women have been supported to give birth, with 3-5 per month requiring hospitalization for regular or caesarean deliveries. We have helped them to keep or, following counselling, adopt their babies.